The Al Smith dinner is famously held in October to raise funds for Catholic charities. It’s a Catholic event, named after the first Catholic presidential candidate. Every four years, they invite the presidential candidates to make speeches and the event is extremely politicized, especially as it comes so close to the election. This year, VP Kamala Harris decided to skip. I don’t blame her. Instead of hammering the Church, VP Harris merely begged off because of a “scheduling conflict.” But she sent in a video, featuring Molly Shannon doing her famous Mary Catherine Gallagher character.

I adore Kamala Harris, but I found this a bit cringe. Like, the wrong tone? Maybe the disrespect was the point – she doesn’t take this event seriously, nor should she. Just hours before the Al Smith dinner, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles “agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 people who say they were sexually abused as children by Catholic clergy.” This was the largest single payout in the years since the Church’s widespread child abuse crime ring was outed. In just the Archdiocese of LA alone, the settlements from lawsuits have crossed the $1.5 billion threshold. Why would a former prosecutor and advocate for women and children cozy up to these people? Why would she toast them?

All of which to say, Donald Trump did go to the event and he cozied up with Cardinal Dolan. Cardinal Dolan blasted VP Harris’s absence from the event, saying: “This year will be imbalanced because, sadly, Kamala Harris isn’t coming. It’s a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor. It’s not a campaign speech. It’s not a campaign stop.” It is a campaign stop, be for real.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.